Tenants Petition CD 14 L.A. Yes on Options 4 and 5!
Dear Councilman Kevin de Leon,
I am a renter and stand in solidarity with the residents of Barrington Plaza. Less than 20% of 577 households surv99ived the illegal eviction attempt, despite a battle won in court. Their experience of harassment and intimidation highlights the precarious situation of renters across Los Angeles, where affordable housing is increasingly scarce, and tenant protections are constantly under threat. This petition is on behalf of all renters who face similar uncertainties in an ever-tightening housing market. Between February and December of 2023, the Los Angeles Housing Department received a total of 77,049 eviction notices.**
The Citywide Housing Incentives Program (CHIP) was introduced to address the dire need for more affordable homes. However, the current exemption of single unit neighborhoods (zoned R1) from this program means that 40-80% of land on the Westside is off-limits for any affordable housing incentives. This exclusion disproportionately impacts minority communities, concentrating affordable housing in specific areas while leaving large swathes of land in high-opportunity neighborhoods untouched.
We believe this approach is both unfair and shortsighted. R1 lots situated on main thoroughfares are ideal for lower-income, multi-family homes and should not be exempt from the CHIP. Including these areas in the program would distribute affordable housing more equitably across the city, ensuring that all Angelenos, regardless of their neighborhood, have access to affordable homes. In addition, family-sized multifamily homes are being replaced by smaller units, which although below market rate for their number of bedrooms, result in a severe increase on a per square foot rent basis. The result is that our families are being displaced. This uproots our long term residents and destabilizes our community. We cannot ignore the reality that lower income households cannot relocate into homes hundreds of dollars beyond their original rent. In this context, relocation buyouts are one-way-tickets out of our community.
I urge you to motion City Council for to adopt CHIP Options 4 and 5 that includes R1 lots on corridors in Mixed Income and Affordable Housing programs in high resource areas, and exempt R2 lots to reduce displacement pressure in historic communities of color. CHIP will rezone all the properties around R1 lots on large corridors, placing them in extreme hardship for their long term liveability. They will suffer under the current proposal.
Lastly, Options 6 and 7 incentivize cooperatives and share equity development that would maintain multi-generational, property-owning families in place and allow for the increase in affordable homes, while providing rent-to-own pathways for lower to moderate income families. Although these options represent the antithesis of for-profit development that produces housing through gentrification, LA City Planning has <span style=\”text-decoration: underline;\”>marginalized and declared these obsolete in favor of preserving every single unit lot, even those contrary to consistent urban
<span style=\”text-decoration: underline;\”> planning. We urge you to send these share equity Options 6 and 7 back to LA City Planning for the same level of feasibility analysis provided to all other options. Do not let these once in a generation opportunity to provide truly affordable homes for hard-working Angelenos to be pushed into invisibility.I urge you to prevent an extremely inequitable CHIP and put forth a plan that complies with sensible urban planning principles: incentivize multifamily homes on R1s on corridors with cooperative and shared equity programs. Please support zoning justice for all of Los Angeles!
We ask PLUM and Councilman Kevin de Leon to consider the needs of all renters and tenants in Los Angeles, in calling for a more just, realistic, and inclusive housing policy.
Thank you for your attention to this critical issue.